I do not have enough priming sugar For the batch that I want to bottle today.
LHBS is not open.
Which would you recommend cane sugar or DME??
LHBS is not open.
Which would you recommend cane sugar or DME??
Cane or DME?????
- Thread starter brewkinger
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Doesn't matter, just make sure you put in the right amount.
http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html
http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html
OP
OP
Thanks for the quick response I have beer Smith so I know I can get the correct amount.
I have been told that DME will take longer to carbonate and table sugar will make the head retention somehow different
I have been told that DME will take longer to carbonate and table sugar will make the head retention somehow different
The only thing I've ever really noticed....is bigger bubbles with table sugar and smaller ones with DME. But, that might just be my perception with no data to really back that up. 
Table sugar will work just fine. Head is formed by dissolved protiens,but driven after that by carbonation. I've gotten finer bubbles with either dextrose or sucrose. just has to carb & condition long enough before at least a week fridge time.
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Ok so now I have an entirely new question. I glanced at that cap ulator link
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brewkinger said:
Stupid phone. I looked at the link and BJCP recommendations for carb levels. What type of beer is BierMunchers Pale Ale, which is the recipe that I followed?
I believe that I told BeerSmith it was a standard bitter and the link tells me 1.3 volumes and I had used 2.3 in BS
Help???
Go with American pale ale.
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So, I have roughly 2.5oz of dextrose which according to BS will give me around 1.7 volumes.
Both BS and tasty brew calc recommend 2.3 - 2.52 volumes.
I will still be fine if I go with the dextrose that I have? I mean I know I will have carbonation, but will it be OK?
Both BS and tasty brew calc recommend 2.3 - 2.52 volumes.
I will still be fine if I go with the dextrose that I have? I mean I know I will have carbonation, but will it be OK?
Carbonation will be quite low. I hesitate to go below 2.0 volumes even for beers traditionally with low carbonation - these are tradiationally served on cask, which is completely different from serving in bottles. For your situation I would recommend either supplementing the dextrose with sucrose or using 100% sucrose to get your volumes up to 2.5ish.
Mixing them worked fine the one time I was low on dextrose. Table sugar mixed with it worked perfectly. Somehow I don't see that happening again in the forseeable furture. When I ordered my PM Berlin wheat kit,I also bought 4lbs of dextrose & 144 o2 barrier caps. Midwest was still in the process of moving their warehouse,& my order got shipped a 2nd time. I now have 8lbs of dextrose,& had 2 5oz bags,but used one to prime my Maori IPA yesterday. Not to mention having 242 o2 caps left out of the 288 they sent me.
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Yeah, as a chemist I feel strongly that an attempt to would result in disaster so I think that I will just stick with the table sugar option.
It worked well many years ago when I did my Mr Beer kit (I distinctly remember having to carefully shovel tiny fractions of tsp into each plastic bottle)
What is the general consensus out there?
A tangential post if you will...
What do you use to bottle (if you do at all)?
Does anyone bottle with one type EXCLUSIVELY for a reason?
It worked well many years ago when I did my Mr Beer kit (I distinctly remember having to carefully shovel tiny fractions of tsp into each plastic bottle)
What is the general consensus out there?
A tangential post if you will...
What do you use to bottle (if you do at all)?
Does anyone bottle with one type EXCLUSIVELY for a reason?
I really hate those calculators! Sure, carbing "to style" might be need, but most of us are accustomed to bottled beer being around 2.5 volumes regardless of style. I really like to use .75-1 ounce of corn sugar per finished bottle of beer. That calculator might have you make one beer totally flat or the next one bottle bombs with some styles.
I don't notice any difference in using corn sugar, cane sugar, DME, honey, etc, so I just use whatever I have and whichever is easiest- typically table sugar. I wouldn't have any qualms about mixing it up and using both corn sugar and table sugar to bottle if I happened to have some corn sugar.
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I hesitate to question ya Yoop, but.... you mean 0.75 to 1 oz per GALLON of finished beer right???
Otherwise I would be adding 36 to 48 oz of dextrose.
Or am I misunderstanding?
So if I have roughly 2.oz corn sugar, which according to BS is roughly half what I need, would I add roughly half of whatever amount of table sugar or DME that it recommends?
I dread the thought of bottle bombs.
I hesitate to question ya Yoop, but.... you mean 0.75 to 1 oz per GALLON of finished beer right???
Otherwise I would be adding 36 to 48 oz of dextrose.
Or am I misunderstanding?
So if I have roughly 2.oz corn sugar, which according to BS is roughly half what I need, would I add roughly half of whatever amount of table sugar or DME that it recommends?
I dread the thought of bottle bombs.
Yep! It's per finished gallon of beer. I'm on my little netbook, and the word "gallon" is missing there and it's an important word!
I would use 5 ounces (total) of corn/table sugar for a 5 gallon finished batch. You may have a tad less than 5 gallons in the fermenter, as some will be lost to trub, so you can generally be safe with 4.5 ounces (by weight) of sugar. When using table sugar, it's a tad more fermentable than corn sugar so you use a tiny bit less but when we're talking about 2 ounces it's not that big of a difference at all, and I would simply use 2 ounces (or whatever you have) of corn sugar and 2.5 ounces of table sugar.
For DME, you need quite a bit more. For a 5 gallon finished batch, I use 1.5 cups of DME to carbonate. I wouldn't mess with that right now, since you already have some sugar.
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Thank you again everyone.
Lost Internet yesterday while brewing and posting these questions.
Gotta love northern Vermont.
Snowed here on Saturday and Sunday in the elevations.
Gotta name this brew something special as it was Memorial Day weekend, rain, wind and COLD!!!
Blonde ale that I am thinking of adding strawberries or something else to in secondary.
Any thoughts for first time with secondary additions?
Lost Internet yesterday while brewing and posting these questions.
Gotta love northern Vermont.
Snowed here on Saturday and Sunday in the elevations.
Gotta name this brew something special as it was Memorial Day weekend, rain, wind and COLD!!!
Blonde ale that I am thinking of adding strawberries or something else to in secondary.
Any thoughts for first time with secondary additions?
It's been about a month BrewKinger. What (and how much) did you end up using, and how do you like it?
I once used ~5oz of table sugar (inverted for giggles) to prime a batch of BM's Centennial Blonde and it was WAY too much. It was bubblier than a soda, and it took intense skill and concentration not to end up with a glass that was 0.5 inches of beer and 6 inches of foam. I rarely go over 4oz now.
I once used ~5oz of table sugar (inverted for giggles) to prime a batch of BM's Centennial Blonde and it was WAY too much. It was bubblier than a soda, and it took intense skill and concentration not to end up with a glass that was 0.5 inches of beer and 6 inches of foam. I rarely go over 4oz now.
woozy
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The only thing I've ever really noticed....is bigger bubbles with table sugar and smaller ones with DME. But, that might just be my perception with no data to really back that up.
I had heard that. Yooper told me it wasn't true. *sigh*.
Of course that was a discussion about using rice extract which the general consensus was rice extract was just.... goopy ... and weird-- just do sugar.
But maybe dme is acceptable when rice extract isn't.
Still we definitely know table sugar works.
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pfgonzo said:
I ended up using 3.5oz I table sugar.
I covered 51 bottles with a wool blanket and left them in the barn for about 2 wks or so and then started sampling them. They were carbed and tasty. My attention to them has taken a back seat to a batch of Ole Brown Bear Ale (6.2%) that I made in march and is finally peaking.
The Ridge Runner Pale Ales are good but I finally figured out I frigged up the recipe and used too much dark adjunct and so my bass clone was way too dark. Gonna have to rename it I guess.
The blonde ale I made that day got bottled after 2 wks of dry hoppng with a single navel orange including the fruit and outer orange peel.
Kind of a tart orange blonde but def drinkable!!
Oh and 5oz of table sugar in a 5 gal batch of blonde is too much..... But you figured that out, glad no one got bombed.
